Sign the Petition to

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

Dear Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon,

As a global citizen concerned with alleviating the needless suffering of the poorest populations, I urge you today to prioritize neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) as part of your strategy to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and help reduce poverty and inequality among the world’s marginalized populations. As you know, NTDs devastate the poorest and most neglected populations on the planet by causing debilitating illness -- trapping communities in endless cycles of poverty. By committing to invest in NTD control programs, you can help lift the world’s most neglected people out of poverty.

The drugs to treat and control NTDs are safe and available, and these treatments have a wide impact ranging from increasing school attendance and a child’s ability to learn, to helping women generate an income and supporting a nation’s overall economic growth.

Ending the burden of NTDs will be a catalyst for achieving broader development goals, especially as the international community looks to build on past successes through the post-2015 development agenda. Despite this dire need, funding, research and political will for NTD treatment lags significantly behind other health and development interventions.

If we are to end extreme poverty in all its forms, we must allocate more resources and greater support to NTDs. The report issued by the High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda places NTDs alongside the most pressing global health issues, such as preventing maternal and child deaths; vaccines and immunizations; reproductive health; HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria and non-communicable diseases.

By committing to invest in NTD control programs, the international community has an opportunity to unlock the social and economic potential of the world’s most marginalized communities and mobilize new drivers of growth across the globe.

Sincerely,

Signed,

Sabin Vaccine Institute

This petition closed over 1 year ago

How this will help

Will you speak out for the world's poorest people?

500 million children around the world are debilitated every year from neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) like trachoma and river blindness that...

500 million children around the world are debilitated every year from neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) like trachoma and river blindness that could have been
easily prevented or treated. Currently, the United Nations does not have a comprehensive plan to address Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs).

NTDs are the most common afflictions of the world's poorest people. These
debilitating and painful diseases affect more than 500 million children
worldwide -- often leaving them malnourished, anemic, and too sick to learn and
attend school. Despite the global need to address NTDs, funding, research, and
the political will to tackle these horrific diseases lags significantly behind
other health and development issues.

This is why we need to ask UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to include NTDs in the post-2015 development agenda.

Treating NTDs is a catalyst for achieving broader
development goals –more children thriving and attending school, fewer women
infected with HIV and ending malnutrition.
The UN plays an important role in setting priorities for
governments. If we act now, we can
persuade the world's governments to help the world's most neglected people by resolving
to eliminate NTDs once and for all.

Help reduce poverty and inequality among the world's most
marginalized populations. We've made so much progress in treating NTDs around the world in the
past decade, but UN support is vital.